


I May As Well Go To Bed

by DarkCellar



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship, Darth Tantrum and his Evil Space Ginger, Denial of Feelings, Developing Relationship, Eventual Fluff, Falling In Love, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gay Male Character, I Ship It, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Kylux - Freeform, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, One Night Stands, One True Pairing, Romantic Fluff, Senpai Notice Me, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 08:50:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19943449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkCellar/pseuds/DarkCellar
Summary: Although a successful man, Armitage Hux has long carried within himself feelings of criticism and inadequacy. No matter what he does, he always feel like his accomplishments just aren’t good enough, and that he can’t do anything right.Apparently, not even engage in a one-night stand.Because the other participant in that event just won’t leave him alone. In fact, he goes to great lengths to convince the slender redhead that what they had can become something more than a meaningless fling ... although Hux doesn’t quite share in his opinion.Or DOES he?





	I May As Well Go To Bed

“What is it, Ren? I’m a bit busy at the moment.”

It was around 2200, and General Hux was enduring another late night of working in his office aboard Supreme Leader Snoke’s ship, the Supremacy. Lately there had been a lot of changes within the ranks of the First Order, such as new recruits, personnel changes, and on-going renovations to areas on the various starships, as well as the new land base on Ochimarui, a well-hidden planet in the outer rim. 

And Hux was having a hard time staying on top of everything. 

Unfortunately his competent assistant had died during a skirmish with rebel forces several months ago, and Hux’s new assistant wasn’t as intelligent or efficient as Hux would have preferred. So Hux spent a great many late nights and early mornings catching up on the many issues that piled up during the day.

Then again; day, night, what did either matter? Hux had been in space so long that time had become one constant flowing wave. Just the other day, he had had a mild moment of alarm, when one of his captains was speaking about the sunrise on a planet he had just been on, and Hux legitimately had to wrack his brain for an image that reminded him of what a sun even looked like. 

He barely slept anymore, he didn’t eat properly, and more and more, he found himself making extremely poor decisions in regards to his personal life.

And standing in his doorway, with that easy smile and those hypnotic eyes, was his biggest poor decision to date:

Kylo Ren.

Kylo Ren, grandson of Darth Vader. Son of the infamous princess turned rebellion leader Leia Organa and lauded pilot and smuggler Han Solo. Nephew and former prodigy of storied Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. Current apprentice to Supreme Leader Snoke, enforcer of The First Order, leader of the Knights of Ren.

And, where Hux was concerned ...

... the General’s very regretted one-night stand.

The day Ren had approached him, had seduced him with his smooth voice and irregularly handsome features, Hux’s higher instincts had all but screamed at Hux, at how bad of an idea that engaging in any kind of activity with Ren would be.

And Hux had _known_ it was a bad idea.

But loneliness is a powerful enemy, and physical need an even stronger one. And Kylo Ren, when he’d decided he wanted something, could be impressively aggressive about pursuing it. And he was _smart_ ; he had observed Hux’s behavior carefully over the few years they’d known each other, and had figured out that Hux was at his most vulnerable when the redhead felt he’d failed at something. With the jarring loss of Starkiller base (which had, for all intents and purposes, been Hux’s ‘baby’), Ren KNEW that Hux’s mind and his emotions would be at their most unstable, leaving a wide opening for Ren to swoop in with some much-needed (if unexpected) “comfort”. 

It hadn’t taken all that much for Ren to entice Hux into a romp, and, to Ren’s credit, he didn’t disappoint. He was an incredibly virile, passionate, _generous_ lover, and what happened between them was so incredible that Hux found himself dreaming about it, from time to time.

But afterwards, Hux had fully expected things to go back to normal between them. He felt as though their encounter should have been a universally understood event; he’d give Ren a chance to rest, to catch his breath, then politely but firmly see him out the door and back to his own quarters. And what had happened would never be spoken of again, for any reason.

But ...

Kylo Ren hadn’t seemed to have gotten the memo, regarding proper one-night stand etiquette. 

He had turned over and gone to sleep in Hux’s bed. The next morning, instead of immediately leaving, he had the audacity to order breakfast for the two of them, and to answer Hux’s door himself, shirtless, to the surprise (and gossip-spreading) member of the mess hall’s personnel staff. And he either didn’t catch Hux’s repeated hints about wanting him to leave, or he just plain ignored them.

When Hux finally got him to go, Ren had been halfway out the door before turning back around, grabbing Hux’s narrow waist (hard enough to raise a couple of bruises later on), and hug him until the latter felt like he was being crushed in a vice.

And it didn’t stop there.

For days after, Ren would flood Hux’s DataPad with very personal, sickeningly-sweet messages, and jokes, and poetry, and sometimes a picture here and there.

Eventually it got so that Hux called Ren into his office, made him sit, and explained to him, as nicely as possible, that he wasn’t interested in ANYTHING existing between them, other than their professional workplace relationship.

But speaking to him was like speaking to a concrete wall. Ren had listened , he’d nodded ... but when it was time for him to leave, he’d stood up, _hugged_ Hux to him again ... and the messages continued as steadily and frequently as if Hux had said nothing at all to him.

And now here it was, Maker knew how many months later ...

... and Kylo Ren **still** seemed to be laboring under the inane delusion that he and Hux were in some kind of a ... a _relationship_ , with each other.

And no matter how cold Hux was to him, or indifferent, or downright rude, Ren would not give up his pursuit.

Which was likely why he was standing in Hux’s office right now.

“What are you working on?”, he asked him, sitting himself down in the chair outside Hux’s desk.

“Things.”

“Do you need any help?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“When do you think you’ll be done?”

Hux looked up at him for the first time now, frowning. 

“I really don’t know, Ren. Why?”

“Well, I was thinking that when you’re done, maybe you’d want to come to my quarters, and have dinner with me.”

“Dinner? At —“, he paused, glancing at the timepiece on the wall, “At 2235? A bit late for that, isn’t it?”

“Never too late for food. Also, you haven’t eaten today at all, so it shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

“How would you —“, Hux began, then stopped himself, sighing a bit. He didn’t want to know; if Ren was now actively spying on him, that wasn’t something Hux was prepared to deal with. At all. “I’m fine, Ren.”

“Alright. Oh, before I forget; tomorrow Supreme Leader Snoke is sending me on a training excursion with my knights. I likely won’t return for at least a week, maybe more.”

Hux looked up at him again, frowning once more. “I’m aware of that, Ren. I have the memo from the Supreme Leaded on my DataPad.”

“I thought so, but, well, I thought I should tell you personally.”

“Ren ... you are under no obligation to inform me of your plans, your whereabouts, or anything concerning you at all, if it doesn’t directly involve me in a _professional_ , First Order related capacity.”

Ren nodded, looking down at his boots. “I know that. I just thought ... well ...”

“What?”

“Nothing. Er, when I return ... would you like to go somewhere with me? In my ship?”

“Not particularly.”

A beat of silence, and then Ren was slowly standing up. 

“Alright. I’ll take my leave then. Have a good evening.”

“You too. Have a safe trip.”

Ren nodded, and went to the door. He was halfway out when something, some thought about the way Ren’s face looked, made Hux call out, softly, 

“Kylo?”

Ren turned around, clearly surprised: in all the time they had known each other, Hux had never once called him by his first name.

“Yes?”

“There’s ... nothing at all, wrong with you. In any kind of way, except for one thing: you don’t know when to admit defeat. There’s a Terran quote I feel would be beneficial to you; ‘Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker.’”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning you should recognize when you’re fighting a losing battle, learn from it, and _move on_.”

Ren smiled and shook his head. “I respectfully reject your quote, and give you another in its place: ‘Never give up on what you really want. It’s difficult to wait, but it’s even more difficult to regret what you gave up.’”

“Ren ... I could understand that, I could agree with that, IF what you were ‘giving up’ was something worthwhile. I’m ... I’m just _not_ —“

But Ren had crossed the room, back towards Hux, and wrapped him in his strong (and somewhat inescapable) arms. 

“But you ARE. You really, truly, _are_. I hope you see it one day.”

He let go and walked out once more, this time not looking back.

Hux stood in his doorway and watched him stride down the hall. 

Kylo Ren.

Kylo Ren, grandson of Darth Vader. Son of the infamous princess turned rebellion leader Leia Organa and lauded pilot and smuggler Han Solo. Nephew and former prodigy of storied Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. Current apprentice to Supreme Leader Snoke, enforcer of The First Order, leader of the Knights of Ren.

And possibly the most frustrating, confusing man that Hux had ever encountered in his life.

He thought back to that night, to _their_ night. How he’d begrudgingly accepted that Ren had no intentions of getting up and going back to his own quarters.

At some point in the night, Hux had turned over, and been met with the sight of Ren’s sleeping face. It was so strange; it was the only time since he had known him that Ren seemed calm. At peace.

Almost ... happy.

Unable to help himself, he’d reached out and gently touched Ren’s cheek, then a strand of his hair. Both were softer than anything Hux had felt in his entire life. And his eyelashes were so long, his lips so red, so luscious, so ... kissable.

Had they kissed at all, during — ? Hux wasn’t sure; so much had happened that it was hard to keep track of individual details like that. 

What if Hux were to kiss him right then? Would Ren wake up?  
_Would he kiss Hux **back**?_

Would —

But Hux had quickly stopped his train of thought, turned back the opposite way, and forced himself to go to sleep.

“Well,” Hux said to himself now, hardly aware that he was speaking out-loud. He went back to his desk and began gathering up his papers, neatly filing them away in his drawer. “All these pointless distractions are keeping me from getting any work done; I may as well go to bed.”

— —

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“Me either. He’s no Snoke. Why, he barely has control of HIMSELF, much less an entire group!”

Hux heard the talking long before he entered the conference room. Big news had rocked the First Order today, and Hux had been in Snoke’s chambers all morning, discussing it.

It was about four days into Kylo Ren’s training excursion with his knights, but word came in earlier that one of his knights, the youngest of the bunch, had gone completely mutinous. He had risen up during a group meditation session, taken his lightsaber, and attempted to strike down his fellow comrades ... starting with Ren.

And he was smart; he’d gone ahead and silently destroyed the ship’s Medical Bay room, as well as any supplies that might have helped survivors. 

Ren and the rest had been able to fight him off, and eventually kill him; but not before sustaining grave injuries themselves. The least damaged of the bunch sent a Comm back to Snoke’s ship, that they were rushing home to get their injuries patched up. Yet they were so far away that, even at lightspeed, it would take several hours for them to make it back. 

Snoke was in constant communication with Ren, and Hux listened while the two spoke. Even through the scratchiness of the Comm, Hux could hear how badly shaken up Ren was.

Now, as he approached the conference room, he could hear everybody speaking about what had happened ... and how they felt it to be Ren’s fault.

“I mean, he’s so young. He doesn’t have the wisdom nor experience to be an effective leader.”

“Trying to control a group of renegades like that ... foolish, pure and simple.”

“Isn’t he supposed to be able to read minds? So how was he unable to hear what the rogue one was planning? I don’t —“

“Lord Ren is just as capable a leader as anybody in the First Order, maybe even more so,” Hux suddenly interjected angrily. Everybody turned to look at him; it was rare to see Hux lose his calm and cool demeanor; even rarer for him to be _defending_ Kylo Ren. “I’d like to see one of you, ANY of you, take on the challenges he does every single day. Your bodies would be shattered after a single HOUR of the type of training he endures under Supreme Leader Snoke, to say nothing of the responsibilities he carries as Enforcer. He —“

Hux stopped himself, embarrassed. When was the last time he’d gotten THIS upset, or felt THIS adamant about something? He passed his hand over his eyes, taking a deep breath to bring him back to his center.

“I’m retiring to my quarters,” Hux said in a low voice to his assistant. “Make sure that Medical Bay staff is on standby to assist those returning with injuries, then send me a report later on their conditions. Understood?”

His assistant nodded, tapping Hux’s instructions into his DataPad. Hux turned and strode from the room, not looking back at the bewildered faces he knew would be staring at him as he left.

—

About an hour later, and Hux was pacing around his quarters, feeling restless. He’d laid down and attempted to take a nap, but that proved to be no good. Absurdly, he found himself watching the door, although he wasn’t sure why.

 _Your body is suffering from lack of sleep and proper nutrition,_ he thought to himself, as he poured himself a fourth (or was it fifth?) cup of tea. _That’s why you feel so strange. It ... it has nothing at all to do with Ren. It’s ridiculous, to think that maybe you’re, what, WORRIED, about him? Right?_

And there was no reason to worry ((not that that was what Hux was doing)). After all, earlier reports from Ren’s ship had specified that everybody was alive, except for the traitor. He was likely badly injured ... but Ren had suffered bad injuries before, and came through them just fine. He was remarkably strong and resilient, after all.

“I just need to sleep,” Hux said out-loud to himself, taking another sip of tea. “I’ll think more clearly once —“

A low knock on his door interrupted him, and he sighed, thinking it was his assistant coming to ask for clarification on Hux’s earlier instructions. If that WAS the case, Hux was going to fire him, or shoot him full of blaster-fire holes, or something. He’d had enough incompetence.

But a wave of disbelief shot through him, when he pressed the button to open the door ...

... and was met with the gruesome sight of a _very_ damaged Kylo Ren ... looking far worse than what Hux had imagined.

Ren’s eye left eye was a dark bloodshot red, his right encased in a dark circle in the outline of a fist. His cape was shredded in the back, and his clothes were so mangled and torn that it was as if he was wearing rags. Even just standing there, he was very unsteady on his fee, swaying back and forth as if standing in an aggressive breeze. His pale skin was striped with long runners of blood and gore.

Not knowing what else to do, Hux took hold of his arm (grimacing at the way the blood squelched through his fingers) and pulled him inside.

“What in the seven hells — what are you doing here?!”

“I .. . I was away so long ... wanted to see you ...”

Hux pulled him into his kitchen, making him sit in a chair as he poured him a glass of water. He brought it to the table and said, sternly,

“Ren ... look at yourself. Seriously, LOOK at yourself! Why aren’t you in the medical bay right now?? That should have been the first place you went to after you set foot off of that ship! So WHAT THE KARK ARE YOU DOING _HERE_?!”

Trembling from his injuries, shaky even sitting down, Ren pulled off the satchel he had from over his arm, and put it down on Hux’s table. Rooting around inside, he brought out a shining bluish-green gem, about the size of child’s fist, attached to a long gold chain.

“I found this in a cave,” he told Hux, sliding it across the table to him. “And went to a merchant, to have it put on the necklace. Isn’t it beautiful? It reminded me of your eyes, so I — so I had to —“

But Ren couldn’t finish his sentence. His injuries, combined with his blood loss and horrid dizziness, finally caused him to lose consciousness, and he landed in a heap on Hux’s floor.

— —

“What happened?”

Hux went to him, breathing out a sigh of relief. He put his hand on Ren’s forehead and, seeing that he still felt a bit warm, picked up the glass of water from the table beside the bed, and held it to Ren’s lips.

“It’s okay, you’re okay,” Hux said, quietly. “Here; drink this.”

Ren did as he was told, not stopping until he had taken all of the icy coldness down his parched throat.

When he was finished, he laid back down, coughing. “What happened?”, he asked again, looking at Hux. “Where am I?”

“Well, you came here, you gave me this,” Hux said, pointing to the necklace that hung down his chest, “And then you passed out. I had you taken to medical bay, and then I ... I had them bring you back here. You’re in my bed right now.”

“W-What? Why?”

Hux got up and began fussing with the bedcovers, not looking at Ren, as he replied,

“Well, you’re very banged up. You need to be somewhere where you can be taken care of, until you get better.”

“Am I mistaken, or wouldn’t I have been ‘taken care of’ in med bay?”

“Yes. You would have. But, Kylo, **I** want to be the one who takes care of you.”

“Huh?”

Hux stood up and began pacing, and talking.

“You know the day after we slept with each other, after you left; I was making my bed, and it took me quite a long time, because I kept stopping to sniff my covers. Because they smelled like you. Every time you come into my office, or you’re standing next to me, or you pass me by ... I can’t stop sniffing the air. Because you leave your scent behind.”

“Er, thanks, I —“

“And you’re always bothering me. You show up where I don’t expect you, you talk incessantly, you ask questions I don’t want to answer. It’s like you have a chip embedded in your brain that enables you to know exactly what it is that will annoy me, at any given time.”

“I’m sorry, I —“

“And no matter what I say, or do, or how I act ... you keep coming back to me. To bother me. To leave your scent behind. And you spend all day sending me these things on my DataPad, and I just ...”

He paused, and then gently sat down on the edge of the bed, and took Ren’s hand into his own.

“I’ve never had what you’d call a proper relationship before,” he confessed, looking down. “And I honestly don’t know if I’m the type who’s cut out to be in one. But you know, my father, he always said that only idiots let good things slip through their fingers. I don’t think I’m an idiot. And I think ... well, I _believe_ that YOU are a good thing. And together, we can possibly be a **great** thing.”

Ren was quiet for awhile; and then he said, with a grin, “So all it took was for me to bring you jewelry, to change your mind about us? If I had known that I would have gone to a jeweler months ago.”

Hux frowned and hit Ren, hard, on the shoulder. “This is exactly what I meant, about you being annoying.”

“Ouch!”, Ren exclaimed, rubbing the aching spot Hux had hit. “Be careful; I’m valuable property!”

Hux chuckled and swung himself into the bed, curling against Ren’s side. Laying his head on Ren’s chest, he said, teasingly,

“Valuable? More like trash. But don’t worry; I’ve always had a fondness for collecting pieces of junk and fixing them up really nice. So I’m going to fix you up, too, and make you all better. Starting with dinner; what do you want to eat?”

Ren leaned down and whispered into Hux’s ear, causing the latter to blush. 

“Unfortunately, no. You’re not getting _that_ until you’re properly healed up.”

He kissed Kylo’s cheek before getting off the bed and standing up, saying “I’ll make you some barret stew and oro bread. I’ll be in the kitchen; call out to me if you need anything, alright?”

“Okay,” Kylo nodded, pulling up his blanket just a bit more. “Hey, Hux?”

“Yes?”

“Is it too soon into this, to tell you that I love you?”

“Yes. Entirely too soon.”

“Well, I love you anyway. Now hurry and make my food, please; I’m starving.”

So Hux left with a smile, and spent the next half hour moving around his kitchen, preparing food for the man in his bed:

Kylo Ren.

Kylo Ren, grandson of Darth Vader. Son of the infamous princess turned rebellion leader Leia Organa and lauded pilot and smuggler Han Solo. Nephew and former prodigy of storied Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. Current apprentice to Supreme Leader Snoke, enforcer of The First Order, leader of the Knights of Ren.

And Hux’s ...

Well, _Hux’s_.


End file.
